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Sathya Chey
Sathya Chey
01:13

Sathya Chey

Rolling Hills Estates, CA USA

"You just have to get out there. You don’t know if you’re going to like it unless you do it. It’s better to just take the risk and experience it."

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Sathya's work combines: Numbers, Business, and Problem Solving

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Day In The Life

Financial Advisor

I work with clients to develop a plan and manage their investments to help meet their financial goals.

01:19

Day In The Life Of A Financial Advisor

My Day to Day

My assistant schedules meetings with clients, then I review each client's investment portfolio. More than just focusing on their actual investments, I spend time figuring out what is meaningful to them. I'll spend each meeting figuring out what makes my clients unhappy, nervous, or unsure, and then I analyze how I can solve those problems for them from a financial perspective. I also spend a lot of time networking with accountants and attorneys who can potentially refer potential clients to me.

Skills & Education

Advice for getting started

I sometimes find myself thinking that my clients will have a negative reaction towards my appearance when I walk into a meeting. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm qualified and good at my job so that I can change the doubtful energy that I'm emitting.

Here's the path I took:

  • High School

  • Bachelor's Degree

    Finance, General

    California State University, Fullerton

  • Graduate Degree

    Entrepreneurship and Venture Management

    Marshall School of Business, USC

Life & Career Milestones

My path in life has been direct

  • 1.

    I was born in a refugee camp in Thailand—when my family and I came to the U.S., we were very poor, shared one bed, and scavenged for food in dumpsters.

  • 2.

    I’ve been working in the family business and working around the house since I was nine years old.

  • 3.

    It was always my goal to become a financial advisor because I witnessed firsthand what it was like to have nothing and struggle to pay for food and shelter.

  • 4.

    I got my bachelor’s degree in finance from California State University, Fullerton, and through the school’s career center, I got my first job as an assistant at a small investment firm.

  • 5.

    Went back to graduate school at CSUF to get my MBA in entrepreneurship and venture management.

  • 6.

    After working hard and staying with the small investment firm for 12 years, I moved onto a larger firm, where I work as a partner on the team.

  • 7.

    I’m also a single mother and am able to afford to let my daughter do after-school activities and try the things I wasn’t able to do as a child.

Defining Moments

How I responded to discouragement

  • THE NOISE

    Messages from Myself:

    As a woman and a minority, clients won't respect and trust me as much as my male colleagues.

  • How I responded:

    I sometimes find myself thinking that my clients will have a negative reaction towards my appearance when I walk into a meeting. I just have to keep reminding myself that I'm qualified and good at my job so that I can change the doubtful energy that I'm emitting.

Experiences and challenges that shaped me

Click to expand

  • I was born in a refugee camp in Thailand after my family survived the Cambodian genocide. I saw what it was like to have everything taken away from you and trying to work your way back up from nothing.

  • I came to the U.S. from Thailand with my family when I was a child. Growing up, we had nothing. We would share one bed and find our food picking through extra stock that stores would throw out.

  • After watching my parents work very hard and still struggle to afford things like food and shelter and never feel like they could relax, I decided early on that I wanted to become a financial advisor and never strayed from that path.

  • As a single mother, I don't get a break when I come home from work. My daughter has to help out a lot with things like dinner. I sometimes feel guilty that she grew up too fast, but I know that I'm showing her that she can be strong and independent.